Brentwood residents continue to push back against new Medical Examiner’s Office

Residents in Jacksonville’s Brentwood area are not happy after the site of a new Medical Examiner’s Office was rezoned from commercial to public at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

On Wednesday, a group of residents met with representatives from the city at the site.

They’re adamant that they don’t want the multi-million dollar Medical Examiner’s Office built in their neighborhood. They want a community center or a park instead.

They met with District 10 Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman, but Pittman said she’s spoken to more than just the people who are against the Medical Examiner’s Office.

“These are just a few people of almost 70,000 people that’s in District 10,” Pittman said.

Pittman completed a vision and comprehensive implementation plan where she said she’s listened to what people in her district want.

“This vision and comprehensive implementation plan is important because there have been studies done in this community and in the northwest quadrant, about what community members want, or what the residents want. And so I have really taken an interest because this area has been forgotten for so many years,” Pittman said.

Jacksonville City Council voted 17-1 to rezone the site for the Medical Examiner’s Office from commercial to public, and Councilwoman Pittman was one of the 17 votes for the rezoning.

Lydia Bell, president of the Metro Gardens Neighborhood Association, feels the people who are against the Medical Examiner’s Office aren’t being listened to.

“There are laws that the city should follow. We didn’t write the laws, they did. They are our paid employees who are supposed to enforce the law,” Bell said.

Natasha Spencer-Coley lived in the area for most of her life and is against the project. She feels there’s a stark difference in the economic development Brentwood gets compared to other areas of Jacksonville.

“Some neighborhoods seem to get economic development, and restaurants, entertainment, libraries, the kids over here with these two projects are literally getting liquor stores and death,” Spencer-Coley said.

The new office is expected to be fully built by May 2025, but Bell said she will continue to fight. The city announced last week that it will buy the liquor store as part of the Medical Examiner’s Office project.

Pittman said the plans for the liquor store property are still up in the air at this point, and that it’s up for Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan to decide.

“It could be a community center with education and computers. You know, I think about the Boys and Girls Club that’s in this community that has a teen center, we have a school right across the street, that it could be a really good STEM program,” Pittman said.

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